1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of air conditioning and heating and more specifically, an environmental management system (Dynamic Insulation) for dwellings, fixed and mobile, storehouses, containers and rigid or flexible temporary structures, involving efficient passive insulation, exterior to primary evaporative-para-transfer-cooling of walls with secondary, `sensible` air conditioning and air circulation means, water-based radiant heating and water-spray fire-suppression in the interior volume, all working together synergistically for greatest cost-benefit, safety and comfort.
2. Description of Prior Art
The principle of cooling an air stream by evaporative-humidification for the purpose of reducing the temperature within an enclosed space, or volume, such as a dwelling, is well established. Devices for accomplishing this, with improvements through the years, have resulted in an array of methods with varying degrees of success, depending upon their cost, complexities and effective comfort, the most comfortable being those which provide cooling without the introduction of highly humid air into the interior volume and to occupants.
Unfortunately, systems developed to do this have resorted to external heat exchangers requiring multiple fans exposed to the exterior which are more costly, complex and bulky, wasting energy and water in the process.
Adding a small window or through-the-wall, self-contained mechanical air conditioner to a central evaporatively-cooled air system is, sometimes a compromise solution, which costs less to buy and operate than a central mechanical air conditioner system with distributed outlets and offers some added comfort in the room or space allotted to the `sensible` cooler. However, some prior art teaches a method of sending evaporatively-cooled air to the outside of an enclosure in a film, or through channels formed by support beams or studs spaced between the outside layer and the innermost layer of walls and ceiling, or roof, without contact or mixing with the interior volume of sensibly-cooled air. In particular, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,181, Schramm describes a system involving an evaporatively-cooled air stream flowing from a roof unit into an attic space, for cooling said space above the presumably non-insulated ceiling and then exiting through short, broad elbow-shaped ducts, out of said attic and then downward outside, to direct flow alongside the exterior wall surfaces as a shield against outside thermal influx. No evaporatively-cooled air is introduced to the interior volume of the dwelling below the ceiling level.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,268, DiPeri teaches a method, wherein an exterior heat-exchange unit uses an evaporatively-cooled airstream to remove heat from a second, ambient or `dry` air stream without imparting any added humidity to said second stream, that is, `sensibly` cooling it and using it to condition the interior volume of a dwelling. The heat drawn out therefrom, is removed by vaporizing into the first air stream, liquid water, dripped onto an array of parallel tubes, wrapped with gauze for water retention, over which the first air stream flows and then discharges onto the exterior of the roof surface or through channeling formed by the double-layer roof/ceiling construction of conventional industrial buildings. The saturation level of the humidified first stream is rarely complete, being on the average, from 70% to 80%, as are most conventional one-stage coolers of simple design, using the wetted pad principle. Any increase in saturation over that stated would generally require a spray, or mist introduction, or special mixing techniques, to gain excess water suspensions, which then could continue to evaporatively cool, down-stream. Any limitation in saturation severely reduces the ability of the first stream exhaust to continue to pull heat from the outside environment or the roof and wall channels, by latent heat of evaporation, i.e., `drying`, since the discharged air having no excess un-evaporated water therein, can only cool the area by co-mingling and averaging its kinetic energy with that of the immediate environment's higher kinetic energy.
The splitting of heat energy taken up by evaporating water into the first stream, and sharing between the second stream `sensible` flow and the first stream's exterior "barrier flow", compromises the ability of the first steam to remove as much heat from the roof exterior, or peripheral walls, as it might, having already removed significant heat from the second stream and carried it along as `gaseous` water vapor, so to speak. The first stream, therefore, cannot reach as low a temperature entering, say, the confinement of the walls, or ceiling, as it could if the flow had not passed through a prior heat exchanger at all. It, therefore becomes an ancillary or "secondary" cooling method only, relying on `sensibly` cooled air for "primary" interior conditioning . A "primary" evaporative cooling method would require a cool layer to be maintained as close to the interior volume as possible, ready to remove heat from both the innermost wall layers themselves and any influx of heat from the outboard side, as well. The DiPeri invention in essence, teaches the replacement, of insulation with a moving blanket of cooler, but less than saturated air, while the present invention calls for an insulation layer of low thermal conductivity and high radiation reflectivity in both directions, as well as low convection values, to be placed between the exterior environment and the duct layer. This, with the addition of `excess` moisture into the evaporatively-cooled air stream by mist means, increases the cooling potential of the system to qualify it as a "primary" means of heat rejection for the interior volume of an enclosure, with `sensibly` cooled air being independently administered as a "secondary" cooling means.
In prior teachings, wherein evaporative-cooling is used for conditioning the interior volume, the introduction of water is usually controlled by means of a wetted surface exposed to an air stream, co-mixing so as to present as large a surface area as possible and means to recirculate the water for continued presentation, with conservation in mind. However, a presentation of water sometimes is through mist or spray means as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,222, Goettel, et al., wherein an excess of water is sprayed into the air, counter to the air flow and allowed to evaporate downstream, in two tandem expansion chambers, with means to recover excess water and subsequently drain it away, the realization being that excess moisture, if allowed to enter the ducting and interior volume of the dwelling or enclosure will cause increased corrosion to ducting and impinge upon occupants, furniture and paper goods, etc., causing discomfort and possible damage thereto.
In the present invention, excess water in the airstream is actually exploited for its ability to evaporate within water and corrosion-proof ducting downstream, for increased cooling capacity throughout the ducting area surrounding the innermost peripheral walls, ceiling (and floor) of the interior volume of a dwelling, or enclosure.